Reeves' Army

Orlando City U-23 just got an enormous boost. They have signed 17-year-old defender Nicolas Russo.

Russo has been training with the U.S. men’s youth national teams since age 10. At age 12, he was recruited to join the youth development systems of Argentina. In 2008, he moved into the Boca Juniors youth system, the producers of Diego Maradona.

He spent some time with Central Florida Kraze last year, playing 22 minutes over two matches at age 16. He scored one goal and one assist. The goal was the lone goal in a win over FC Jax Destroyers on June 10. Adrian Heath himself had praise for Russo, saying, “he was playing and training with grown men and was not out of his depth.”

Certainly will be some interesting times in 2012. And who knows? Maybe he’ll see a little time with the big club this year. My understanding is that the new U-23 site will launch with the coming re-launch of the Orlando City website, which should occur soon. Pieces of the new website are already coming into place. Hopefully at that time we will learn the U-23 schedule and where they will play. (Please, no more convoluted doubleheaders at the Citrus Bowl.)

The U.S. Soccer Federation has announced the format, composition and master schedule for the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

The tournament will include a total of 64 teams, the largest since professional teams were first allowed into the tournament in 1995. All 16 U.S.-based MLS teams will be in the tournament for the first time ever, and all available teams from the three pro tiers (MLS, NASL and USL Pro) will have full representation. That’s six teams in NASL (except Puerto Rico Islanders and FC Edmonton), and ten teams for USL Pro (except Antigua Barracuda FC).

In addition, there will be 16 places for the USL Premier Development League, 9 places for the USASA fifth-tier amateur soccer league system, and 6 automatic places for the NPSL. The 64th team will be determined by a play-in between an NPSL team and a team from U.S. Club Soccer.

The grand prize for the winning team is the Lamar Hunt Cup and $100,000 cash. The runner-up team gets $50,000 cash. The top NASL, USL Pro, and amateur teams each get $10,000.

USL has changed its qualification for the Premier Development League. Instead of building qualifying games into the schedule, they will now pre-qualify four teams from each of their four conferences based on the previous year’s record. This means Orlando City U-23, as the runners-up for the Southeast Division, qualify for the tournament this year, their third consecutive appearance.

The tournament will begin on Tuesday, May 15, with all the amateur teams. The winners of those matches will play the NASL and USL Pro teams in the second round on Tuesday, May 22. The winners of those matches will play the MLS teams in the third round on May 29. The other dates are June 5 for the 4th round, June 26 for the Quarterfinals, July 10 for the Semifinals, and the weekend of August 7-8 for the Final, a full two months earlier than last year.

The new format will make it easier for the amateur teams to actually win some games.

They told us we were getting big news, and this is big.

Orlando City S.C. has acquired controlling interest of the Central Florida Kraze. As a result, they will be renamed Orlando City U-23. Joe Avallone, who has been the Kraze head coach since 1999, will remain its head coach. Terry Garzon will continue as general manager. For his part, Avallone called the move a “no-brainer”.

As part of the plans, the U-23s will get their own section on the Orlando City website. Hopefully this will mean better updating.

Elsewhere, other people are latching onto the idea of Orlando getting an MLS team. Chris Singer of Global Football Today, has this write-up.

Orlando City didn’t need to play their next match to make the playoffs.

Rochester Rhinos built an early 2-0 lead in their Friday match, then allowed two goals from Charlotte Eagles in the last 15 minutes to settle for a 2-2 tie.

The dropping of two points on Friday night rendered Charlotte incapable of catching Orlando City on points, pushing the Lions into the playoffs.

Wilmington Hammerheads won both matches this weekend to pull to 39 points at 21 matches, putting them at second place in division and league for the last playoff push.

Charleston Battery’s loss to Rochester Rhinos yesterday eliminated them from the race for the top playoff spot. All teams in the Eastern Division are still in contention for the playoffs, but Charlotte and Antigua in particular cannot afford to lose.

Currently, our points magic numbers are 7 with Wilmington, 5 with Rochester, 4 for LA Blues (they have 3 matches in hand still), and 1 each for Richmond and Harrisburg. This “points magic number” is the combination of points won by Orlando and points lost by these teams to give Orlando City home field.

Orlando City goes for the regular-season title and the homefield throughout the playoffs this week with matches against Charleston Battery on Wednesday and Saturday nights, both 7:30pm.

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On Friday, Laredo Heat thought they were Real Madrid, and played like it. They drew a penalty on a flop at the end of the first half, then kept fouling the Kraze on their second half attacks to hand them a 1-0 loss.

The first step on the Central Florida Kraze’s 2011 PDL playoff run will be taken in Mississippi on Friday.

In the Southern Conference semifinal, the Kraze will play the away team to the Mid-South Division Champions, the Laredo Heat. Then Mississippi Brilla will host the Mid-South runners-up, Chivas El Paso Patriots.

The winners of those two matches will meet in the Southern Conference final on Saturday night, July 30, at 8:30pm EDT. The Southern Conference champion will advance to the PDL Finals the weekend of August 5, with the PDL Championship Game airing live on Saturday, August 6, on Fox Soccer Channel.

He got the action, he got the motion
Oh yeah, the boy can play
Dedication, devotion
Turning all the night time into the day

And after all the violence and double talk
There’s just a song in all the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, you do the walk of life
Yeah, you do the walk of life

—Newcastle-based rock group Dire Straits, “Walk of Life”

That will get the people chattering.

Orlando came on strong and relentless, brought the pressure all night long, and beat the Premier League’s Newcastle United, 1-0.

To start, the Magpies fielded a side that closely resembled their regular-season Premier League side, but the Lions answered with their best side and played as if they had nothing to lose.

Miguel Gallardo bounced back from an unlucky Bolton match and played the match of his life, holding a Premier League side to a clean sheet with several spectacular save. One ball did hit the net for Newcastle at 83′, but it was called back for offsides, blowing out the Toon Army supporters who made the 4,200-mile trip from the Tyne to the Citrus Bowl.

Prior to that, as the second half grew long, Orlando City got two shots that buzzed the uprights just wide on either side. It was at 76′ that Dennis Chin got the ball and fed it in to Kevin Molino, who knocked it past Newcastle’s goalkeeper, Fraser Forster, to give the Lions the ultimate game-winner.

The match provided Orlando City with a season-high attendance of 10,889. The Lions are now 3-0-4 against top-flight teams this year.

The Lions will now get a good amount of rest before resuming their regular season schedule. They have three matches remaining before the playoffs, all at home. It begins with a match Wednesday night, August 3, against Charleston. They will also face Charleston again on Saturday, August 6.

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The Central Florida Kraze put an end to their regular season schedule with a 2-1 win over Schulz Academy of Fort Lauderdale. Goals by Jabari Garibaldi at 61′ and Ryan Maloney at 74′.

The Kraze finish the regular season at 11-2-3, and will wait for where they’ll go to begin the playoffs, and the hunt for their second PDL Championship.

So apparently there was a little drama today.

I have been out of the loop for a few days. The brand new Dave and Buster’s on I-Drive has a Dance Dance Revolution machine.

So tonight, I was surprised when I saw a tweet from the the team dispelling rumors that the Newcastle match had been cancelled.

Aparrently, Newcastle expressed a preference to play on a natural grass pitch, so somebody shelled out money to lay down sod over our brand new AstroTurf. The sodding occurred on Thursday.

But Newcastle and Orlando City got together and determined that the temporary pitch simply was not safe for play. So they spent all afternoon today tearing it out.

Someone got the idea that Newcastle would pull out of the match because of it, and decided to post it as fact. I have not seen the particular tweets suggesting this to be so. However, Newcastle has agreed to play on the AstroTurf, and the match is on.

In addition to the match festivities, Orlando City will be taking over Church Street Station for an afterparty. At least five bars will have drink specials for the night.

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If you want to give it a try, the Central Florida Kraze are holding their season finale tomorrow afternoon at 4pm against Schulz Academy. Originally scheduled for The Master’s Academy, it has been moved to Showalter Field.

It is possible to get from there to the Citrus Bowl in time for the Newcastle match, so come on and show the boys some love before the PDL playoffs.

This is why you still go to local games even if they are advertised as airing live on TV.

Fox Soccer Channel chose to air reruns of the Premier League Review Show instead of return live to the match tonight following a roughly 90-minute lightning delay. So local audiences were deprived of the final 25 minutes (23′ regular + 2′ stoppage time) of Orlando City’s 2-1 win over Rochester Rhinos.

All the scoring occurred in the first half. Tony Donatelli headed in Rochester’s lone goal at point-blank range at 15′. It took until 38′ for the Lions to answer back, with forward Matt Luzunaris knocking in a pass from Jack Traynor at 38′ to draw the teams level in the first match of his loan. A foul just short of the penalty box (inside the penalty arc) allowed a direct free kick for City, which Lewis Neal bent around the wall at 44′ for what proved to be the game-winner.

I have been told by sources at the United Soccer Leagues that the match will air in its entirety during the regularly-scheduled replay tomorrow afternoon at 1pm. I would assume the actual delay would be edited out.

Tomorrow is the big one as Orlando City hosts Bolton Wanderers of the English Premier League. Tickets are still on sale through TicketMaster. Match time is 7:30pm, with a large tailgate at Thunder Field hosted by Jazzy Dog Cafe. Thunder Field is across Rio Grande Avenue from the Citrus Bowl, adjacent to Lot L, the usual tailgate ground of The Ruckus. They will have their regular tailgate as well.

The match will NOT be televised. Not even on USL Live. So there is no excuse not to show up tomorrow.

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As for the Kraze, their match was moved to Showalter Field. The change in venue muffled attendance, and the team finally showed up in the final 20 minutes to beat FC Jax Destroyers, 3-2.

Jabari Garibaldi had goals at 70′ and 78′. Johnny Mendoza scored at 72′.

Their next match will be on Thursday in Jacksonville.

After some more rest from our Month of Hell, we welcome the Rochester Rhinos to Orlando for the first time.

It will be interesting to see if any of their fans bother to show up, especially seeing as this is a nationally-televised match on Fox Soccer Channel.

If we win out, we will lock up homefield throughout the playoffs, with the potential to host the USL Pro Championship.

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The preamble to this will be the third doubleheader of the year, with the Central Florida Kraze hosting the FC Jax Destroyers at 4pm.

Let’s just hope they bother to show up this time.

The blog ate my GDT for the Kraze. Doesn’t matter, they didn’t bother showing up to a 3-1 loss to the Bradenton Academics.

Our goal was a lucky header by Daniel Sackman at 75′. Other than that, the Kraze showed just about zero life as Bradenton attacked virtually with impunity.

Their next match is tomorrow at 4pm at the Citrus Bowl, hosting FC Jax Destroyers before Orlando City’s 6:30 match against Rochester. Hopefully the team will show up to that one.

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For the past few home games, I have seen a banner on the far side (from where The Ruckus sits) of the stadium, the sideline section just off the supporters’ section. It is a monochrome image of the effigies of Che Guevara and (I think) Diego Maradona from his playing days, with City insignia.

(When I first saw it, I thought it was Tony Montana, not noticing the obvious jersey or extra hair.)

These are the symbols of a new supporters’ group, Los Guerrilloz. The group opened a Facebook page on Monday.